This paper reviews the biological origins of the critical period hypothesis and the neurophysiological evidence which was initially supplied in support of a critical period for the acquisition of language. Noting the inconclusive nature of neurophysiological evidence, the author suggests that we look to the interplay of affective and cognitive…

Discusses the concepts of linguistic awareness and metalinguistic consciousness and their development in individuals, and shows how making a distinction between the two concepts can be useful to linguists, particularly in the areas of first and second language learning. (CFM)

Assesses the importance and implications of the 'critical period' in second-language learning, which occurs when second-language learning overlaps primary language learning, ages two to thirteen. (LG)

Examines preliminary results of study investigating acquisition of sound system of English as a second language by 15 five-year-olds. Data collected over 10 months were grouped according to eight phonological processes in three categories: assimilation, substitution, and syllable structure changes. (SL)

This paper consists of a critique of a paper by James Cummins which appeared in issue number 1 of the Working Papers on Bilingualism, entitled "A Theoretical Perspective on the Relationship between Bilingualism and Thought." Cummins' paper gives the impression that nearly all of the recent studies exploring the effects of bilingualism…

A study of the acquisition of Turkish and German by immigrant children in West Germany addressed three issues: (1) the role of cognitive development and age of learning in the process of language acquisition, (2) the role of transfer between languages, and (3) the effects of greater or lesser contact with native speakers of the two languages being…

A case study of a native-English-speaking child's acquisition of Hebrew through immersion in daycare found that a period of silence was followed by a rapid onset of second-language production. Eight types of language awareness were identified, with conclusions drawn about their role as prerequisites for starting second-language production. (58…

Analysis of the responses of monolingual Dutch and bilingual Turkish, Moroccan, and Surinamese children living in the Netherlands to word association and sorting tasks revealed no significant differences among the groups. Results of the study indicated that bilingualism does not affect cognitive-linguistic development. (22 references) (Author/VWL)

Examination of factors underlying cross-language transfer in metaphor interpretation among bilingual (Spanish-English) 7- to 12-year-olds indicated that metaphor interpretation ability was higher in the older subjects. The level of metaphor interpretation was most strongly related to cognitive-developmental variables that were interdependent…

The present paper reports on a case study investigating the acquisition of form and function of the English progressive by a seven-year-old Hebrew speaker, learning English as a second language. The paper describes the different elicitation techniques used, and discusses the suitability of such techniques for the investigation of form and…

Reports on two studies designed to prove three hypotheses: (1) five-year-olds can successfully learn a second language (L2); (2) early L2 learning has a positive effect on the development of children's cognitive and first language linguistic abilities; and (3) early L2 learning assists socio-economically disadvantaged children in overcoming…

Profiles interlanguage pragmatics as an area of inquiry in second-language acquisition (SLA) research by reviewing existing studies with a focus on learning, examining research findings in interlanguage pragmatics shedding light on basic questions in SLA, exploring cognitive and social-psychological theories illuminating aspects of pragmatic…

This longitudinal study of bilingual language acquisition analyzes the order of acquisition of English grammatical morphemes in a child bilingual in English and Chichewa (a Bantu lanugage of East Central Africa). The order of acquisition obtained is compared to that obtained by Brown (1973) for monolingual English speaking children and that…

Infant bilingualism can be defined as a child being exposed to two or more languages from birth. Because of the dearth of first-hand research on the effect of a bilingual environment on a child's speaking patterns, parents from multilingual backgrounds raised their daughter in a bilingual environment, German and Spanish, in England. They speak to…

In order to examine the emergence of semantic notions and their interaction with the linguistic codes of bilingual children, this paper focuses on acquisition of a semantic field related to Piagetian tasks of conservation. The hypothesis examined in this study states that the manifestation of a concept will occur first in the bilingual's dominant…